1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for automated milking of a dairy cow using real-time acquisition of the teat locations. More particularly, the present invention uses a network of sensors to locate the teats and does not require the dairy cow to carry an identifier providing teat position information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The dairy industry operates on low margin, high volume production of milk. Further, adequate labor is not available as the pay scale is minimal compared to other competing jobs, such as factory, fast food, and other service industries. In order to remain competitive, milk producers are constantly striving for ways to increase milk production at lower cost. The current trend is to improve milking efficiency through automation, or robotic milking. Robotic milking offers many advantages over manual milking. First, it drastically reduces labor costs. Second, it allows milk producers to increase herd size due to increased efficiency and regular milking schedules.
Automatic milking systems are known to those skilled in the art. Typical of these automatic milking systems are those disclosed in the following United States Patents:
U.S.Pat. No.INVENTORISSUE DATE6,357,387JohannessonMar. 19, 20026,142,098van den BergNov. 7, 20005,967,081Street, et al.Oct. 19, 19995,931,115LindAug. 3, 19995,771,837van der LelyJun. 30, 19985,769,025van der Lely, et al.Jun. 23, 19985,762,020van der LelyJun. 9, 19985,718,186van der LelyFeb. 17, 19985,706,758Street, et al.Jan. 13, 1998
A number of patents disclose improvements to milking systems intended to reduce the collection of dirt and debris within the teatcup. These include U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,387, issued to Johannesson, which describes an automatic milking apparatus wherein the teatcups are stored upside down and U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,098, issued to van den Berg, which describes a flexible teatcup that can be bent to move the opening to a horizontal position.
Other patents disclose systems for automatically milking a cow. U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,081, issued to Street, et al., describes a robot which is capable locating one teat at a time and sequentially attaching the teatcups to the dairy cow. U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,186, issued to van der Lely, describes a robot for a box-type milking system. The robot includes a carrier for automatically attaching teatcups. The robot includes sensors to determine if the teatcups are not properly returned to the carrier.